Friday, July 17, 2009

Thankfully, doctors aren't actually be instructed en masse how to do their work by robotic teachers, but that's not to say robots aren't helping to facilitate the learning process. Recently, surgeons in Argentina were guided through a laparoscopic gastric sleeve procedure by a colleague some 5,400 miles away thanks to the InTouch Health RP-7 Remote Presence Robot. The five-foot, five-inch robot reportedly "displays the doctor's face on a 15-inch screen and is guided by a joystick from a computerized ControlStation, emulating an on-site experience." It's even able to provide high quality, real-time audio / video with "complete mobility around the operating room." Best of all, the patient in question was actually able to return home shortly after the procedure was complete, but heaven forbid one of these things ever turning on us humans and taking on a personality of its own.